Sociology San Diego State University

Overview

Key facts

Students who earn an M.A. in Sociology at San Diego State University may go on to pursue a doctorate in various disciplines and/or engage directly in other areas such as research, teaching, and social justice work.

Our program is a two-year series of 10 courses, which provides students a strong base in both theory and methods as well as rotating seminars in various areas including: criminology, race, globalization, education, media and culture, demography, immigration, sexualities and gender.

All students in our program are able to develop their teaching experience and research, while being paid, by assisting professors with their classes and/or research.  In their second year, most students work as teaching assistants, running their own break-out sections of our large introduction to sociology course.  A community-based research practicum gives students the opportunity to do a group research project on a local issue connected to community organizations and policy work. Students also work with individual professors on their research through grant funding.  Many of our students have published policy reports and academic articles with our professors.  In addition students have presented their own research, as well as joint research, at local and national conferences including the annual meetings of the California Sociological Association, Pacific Sociological Association and American Sociological Association.

The culmination of the program is either a thesis, for which the student conducts primary research in his or her area of interest OR a comprehensive exam in which the student demonstrates mastery of a particular field in sociology.  Our professors are dedicated to offering guidance and support to students throughout this process. 

Our faculty members’ particular fields of expertise include: social inequalities, international migration,  crime and deviance, law and justice, gender and family, health, education, labor relations, social movements, globalization, and popular culture. Also, taking advantage of our geographical location, several faculty members work on international trans-border and trans-cultural research projects.

Why choose our program?

Hear from some of our alumni about our program:

My professors challenged and stretched me academically while they remained flexible; in fact, most openly honored my roles and experiences, viewing them as advantageous and desirable rather than as points of interference with my academic career.  I am a much better academic and a much better sociologist than I was two years ago--but I am also a much better father, husband, and citizen.  As I continue my studies in the PhD program in sociology at UC Irvine, the lessons I learned at San Diego State about negotiating my place in the world will stay with me.  San Diego State was much, much more than a stepping stone to something bigger for me: it is a place of learning, and understanding, and growth--and part of me will always consider it home.